1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cutting apparatus of fabric and the like (hereinafter simply called "fabric") for marks, and more specifically to a cutting apparatus of fabric for marks, wherein a cutting means such as a heat cutter is provided so as to be freely movable in two axial directions on the orthogonal coordinate system to a work bench, so that after placing the fabric on the work bench, any desired marks can be automatically and efficiently cut out of the fabric through the cutting means.
2) Description of the Related Art
In order to make one's own place of work and/or one's team clear, or to identify an individual, it has heretofore been conducted in general to apply a mark, number and/or the like to a uniform. In general, pressure sensitive marks are widely used as such marks. Namely, an adhesive is applied on the back side of a fabric for mark by lamination treatment in advance. After cutting a desired mark out of the fabric in accordance with a pattern, the thus-cut mark is positioned on an object to be applied under pressure such as a uniform and then fixed thereto by melting the adhesive on a hot press or the like. In the cutting of the desired mark out of the fabric, the following method has been used heretofore.
As illustrated in FIG. 1(a), a fabric 4 is first of all placed on a mount 2. A paper pattern 6, which has been formed into a desired mark configuration in advance, is then positioned on the fabric 4 [see in FIG. 1(b)]. As depicted in FIG. 1(C), for example, a heat cutter 8 as a cutting means is then moved along the contour of the paper patter 6, thereby melt-cutting a desired mark out of the fabric 4. The thus-cut mark is then taken out of the mount 2.
However, a paper pattern 6 corresponding to a mark configuration must be prepared in advance in the conventional method. Therefore, when marks of various patterns must be cut out, the production work itself of their corresponding paper patterns 6 becomes considerably troublesome. In addition, upon the cutting operation for marks, an operator must substantially move the heat cutter 8 along the contour of the paper pattern 6. There are hence pointed out disadvantages that marks to be cut out hence vary widely in configuration and moreover the cutting operation for marks cannot be efficiently achieved.
Accordingly, a laser cutting apparatus by way of example has been used with a view toward automatically conducting the cutting operation for marks. It is however indicated for such a laser cutting apparatus to involve demerits that its size is considerably large and it is expensive.
Furthermore, since in the conventional method, the mount 2 is generally formed of a metallic material such as a stainless steel, the mount 2 tends to be damaged when the fabric 4 is melt-cut by the heat cutter 8, so that the damaged mount 2 must be relatively often exchanged for a new mount 2. Therefore, there are pointed out disadvantages that the exchange work of the mount 2 is troublesome and the frequent exchange of mounts is uneconomical. When the melt-cutting of fabrics is continued by the heat cutter 8 heated to a considerably high temperature, the mount 2 itself is also heated, so that there are often a potential problem that the adhesive 4 applied to the back side of the fabric 4 is melted and hence the fabric 4 is fixed to the mount 2.
Moreover, upon effecting the cutting operation for marks automatically, in particular, the cleaning operation of the cutting means has become a problem. Namely, when the melt-cutting of the fabric 4 are carried out by the heat cutter 8 as described above, molten matter composed of the fabric 4 itself and adhesive tends to be formed at the tip of the heat cutter 8. Therefore, an operation to remove the molten matter from the heat cutter 8 must be performed at relatively frequent intervals. Indeed, it is necessary to stop the operation of the cutting apparatus so that an operator himself may clean the heat cutter 8. Accordingly, the cutting operation for marks is often discontinued, so that there are revealed disadvantages that the cutting operation for marks cannot be effected efficiently and it is difficult to automatize the cutting operation for the marks.